Now TV star Neil quits Twitter over tirade of vile abuse from cybernats
TELEVISION presenter Neil Oliver has been forced to quit Twitter by vicious cybernats after he spoke out in favour of the Union.
The Renfrewshire-born author and archaeologist was sent hundreds of messages ‘filled with bile and vicious loathing’, which he claims have now driven him off social media.
Earlier this year, Mr Oliver wrote a newspaper column in which he described the independence referendum as a ‘dead dog’ and ‘hate fest’. He
‘Filled with bile and loathing’
also condemned former First Minister Alex Salmond, calling him ‘yesterday’s man’ and a ‘big, round wrecking ball of a man, sharpened only to damage’.
Nationalists quickly went online to launch personal and hurtful attacks on the father of three.
Mr Oliver, 49, said: ‘A great chunk of the response was not just negative but very personal and filled with bile and vicious loathing.
‘People made it clear they wished the worse for me. They wished that I would develop cancer and said I deserved to be burnt as a traitor. It was one or two positive comments accompanied by hundreds of hate-filled messages.
‘It just got to the point where I was getting so much abuse that I woke up one day and thought, “Why am I bothering having this intrusion in my normal life?”
‘I realised that by having a Twitter identity I had opened a door into my personal life in which strangers could pass at will. The minute I deactivated my account I felt like I had brought my head out of the deep water and could breathe easily. It was an almost instantaneous fix.’
One comment sent to Mr Oliver on social media read: ‘You are a pathetic disgrace to Scotland, and Westminster’s cowardly subservient lapdog.
‘You are the quintessential definition of an inbred hate possessed negatively consumed cowardly dwarf.’
Another stated: ‘You’re an arrogant b ****** . Go and live in England since you love being ruled by the place.’
Mr Oliver said: ‘I experimented with social media without realising what the consequences would be.
‘In the old days, if you wanted to tell the Prime Minister that you disagreed with him or her, you’d have to write a letter to Downing Street. But now, on a whim you can instantly wish death and damnation on a total stranger.’
This comes as Mr Salmond’s former adviser, Alex Bell, has revealed secret SNP research found that cybernats were damaging the independence battle.
Online backers of the SNP have targeted a number of high-profile Union supporters, including author JK Rowling.
Speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Mr Bell said: ‘All those websites that are still functioning, all that Twitter argument, is losing the argument. If you are interested in an independent Scotland, do not go into dogmatic argument with anyone.
‘Do not support a website that adopts a hostile, provocative view of the other side.’
Labour peer Lord Foulkes is one of those who was targeted online. He said: ‘I think Alex Bell is right. It was a negative thing. It really did harm them, the really aggressive ones.’
Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: ‘Alex Salmond’s former policy chief is correct when he says Nationalists who abuse people online are not supporting their cause for independence. This sort of intimidation must stop.’
An SNP spokesman said: ‘This SNP is focusing on making the positive case highlighting the opportunities of independence and the evidence shows more people in Scotland are opening up to these opportunities in the aftermath of the UK’s vote for Brexit.’